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Updated: Dec 22, 2025
Minimally Invasive Thumb-sized Pterional Craniotomy for Surgical Clip Ligation of Unruptured Anterior Circulation Aneurysms
Published on: August 11, 2015
Single-stage clipping with bifrontal and bilateral frontotemporal craniotomies for subarachnoid hemorrhage with
Masahito Katsuki1, Naomichi Wada1, Yasunaga Yamamoto1
1Department of Neurosurgery, Suwa Red Cross Hospital, Suwa, Nagano, Japan.
Background:
Subarachnoid hemorrhage with multiple aneurysms is very challenging because it is difficult to identify the ruptured aneurysm. We could not identify the ruptured aneurysm preoperatively, so we decided to treat all of the aneurysms as a single-stage surgery.
Case Description:
A 79-year-old woman was diagnosed with subarachnoid hemorrhage with multiple cerebral aneurysms at the right distal anterior cerebral artery, left middle cerebral artery, and right internal carotid artery- posterior communicating artery bifurcation. We could not identify the ruptured aneurysm preoperatively. We fixed her head using the Sugita head holding system (Mizuho Co., Ltd., Tokyo) and performed clipping for each aneurysm with bifrontal craniotomy and bilateral frontotemporal craniotomy as a single-stage operation. The last aneurysm seemed ruptured, and clipping for all the aneurysms was successful. She was discharged with a good postoperative course. The Sugita head holding system allowed turning the head of the patient toward the right and left with single fixation, leading to this single-stage operation.
Conclusion:
Several methods for identifying a ruptured aneurysm from multiple aneurysms have been reported, but under limited medical resources, this procedure would be one of the treatment strategies.
